I Can Only Cultivate In A Game

Victor's fists shook.

"I KNOW THIS ISN'T REAL!" he roared into the air.

But the illusion didn't care.

It twisted again.

Now, he stood outside his home.

Smoke billowed in the distance. Sirens blared loudly and the scent of blood wafted across the air.

He kicked open the door and sprinted inside.

His mother lay on the couch with her belly swollen with his unborn sister.

She wasn't breathing.

"No..."

He rushed to her side.

A Drakenar claw had torn through her chest.

A low, whispering voice hissed around him.

"You were too slow again."

Victor gritted his teeth.

"This isn't real. This isn't real."

The voice continued. "Too weak to stop your father's death. Too late to protect your mother. And your sister... never born. Never even had a name."

"No..."

"You're a failure, Victor."

He clutched his head and fell to his knees.

"You couldn't even keep your friends safe."

New visions appeared.

Danny, Max, Jake— were all screaming and running from an explosion. Their bodies twisted in the flames. One by one, they turned to ash.

"Stop it!" Victor shouted.

Reed, Kai, Aria, Amara—dead.

Even Selene was impaled through the heart by a shadowed Umbryx.

Victor crawled through the carnage.

"I... I couldn't protect them. I couldn't... I can't..."

The Mirror throbbed like a pounding heart.

"You are nothing. You have always been nothing. A lucky fool with a stolen bloodline and delusions of power."

"No!"

He slammed his fists into the ground.

"This is not who I am!"

The mirror laughed.

"You will break. You are already breaking."

Victor stood with blood dripping from his hands as his body trembled.

"You're right..." he whispered.

The mirror stilled.

"I'm not strong enough yet. I wasn't fast enough that day. My father died because I was powerless. I still see it almost every night when I close my eyes. That moment... it'll never leave me."

Tears rolled down his face.

"I carry that with me. All of it."

The images flared and began to twist around him again.

His mom, lifeless.

His friends, gone.

Victor looked through the illusions.

"But I am still here."

He took a step forward.

"Every scar. Every regret. Every loss—I wear them like armor."

Another step.

The illusions flickered.

"I will protect what remains. And I will become strong enough to never feel that helpless again."

A final step.

The mirror cracked.

"You cannot destroy me," Victor stated. "Because I've already been broken. And I built myself back up."

[ Insight Trial: Passed ]

The world shattered.

Victor collapsed to his knees as the room returned to normal.

He was drenched in sweat and trembling.

Elder Mo appeared beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You walked through the storm," the elder voiced quietly. "And you did not lose yourself."

Victor looked up with red eyes.

"It hurt more than the Furnace."

Mo smiled faintly. "It always does. But you got through it... You are strong. Always remember that."

The entire Violet Spring Sect buzzed with disbelief at this moment.

Fang Chen had done the impossible. He passed the Trial of Insight.

Whispers echoed through the crowd of disciples and elders as they made their way toward the final trial grounds.

"He survived the Verdant Spirit Furnace..."

"And walked through the Mirror of Reflection..."

"There's no way he passes this one."

The final location was unlike the others. An open courtyard shaped like a giant yin-yang symbol, bordered by glowing runic columns. It held no walls, no weapons, no cover.

This was a place of pure combat.

The sect elders gathered around the elevated viewing platforms with looks of curiosity. Even Elder Mo stood quietly as his gaze narrowed.

"The final trial," one elder announced, "is that of Combat. The trial of blades and fists. Of endurance and adaptation."

Victor stepped into the circle. His body was still sore from the previous trials and his qi was partially depleted.

"The opponent is a guardian spirit—forged from the collective wills of former sect masters. It will match your current cultivation realm... but it will draw upon centuries of martial insight."

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

"Even peak Nascent Soul cultivators have fallen before this test," another elder muttered.

"And he's still only... Peak Core Formation?"

"No chance."

Victor stared ahead as the air trembled.

A figure appeared. Tall. Cloaked in mist. No face. No voice. Just presence.

The Guardian Spirit took form.

It stepped forward slowly while drawing a gleaming blade made of pure intent.

[ Trial Initiated: Trial of Combat ]

[ Opponent: Sect Guardian Spirit - Scaling to Current Realm: Peak Core Formation ]

Victor breathed in.

Then the guardian moved and it was like it had just teleported.

It was fast...

Too fast.

The first strike nearly took his arm off.

Victor twisted just in time, narrowly evading the arc of the blade. He countered with a Phantom Moon Slash, but the spirit spun and deflected it easily.

He backed up and tried to recalibrate.

Another flurry of attacks came his way—spinning kicks, fist strikes, flashes of energy that made the ground quake. Victor retaliated with Shadow Blink, reappearing behind the spirit and launching a combination of three sword strikes.

The guardian didn't even turn around.

It raised its blade swung its arm towards the back in a flash.

All three strikes were parried.

And then the guardian suddenly flipped in the air and kicked Victor in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

Blood dripped from his mouth.

The spirit didn't even pause. It stepped forward with its blade flickering.

Knowing he couldn't evade the attack in time, Victor activated Iron Vein Flow.

[ Technique Activated: Iron Vein Flow - 43% Damage Mitigation ]

He took another strike, but this time, the blade merely sliced his skin... it didn't reach the bone.

He countered with a quick slash at guardian's chest.

It landed. Barely.

A shallow gash appeared that energy began to seep out of.

"Not enough..." Victor muttered while staggering back.

The spirit raised its blade and came at him again.